1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a parts supply system applied to a versatile production line that manufactures various kinds of products, including small quantities, on a single production line.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a production line for manufacturing products is supplied with parts necessary for assembling the products. The products are assembled, tested and inspected after completion of the assembling operation on the line, and finally are conveyed to a packing site after receiving acceptable test results. It is preferable to provide a separate production line for each product in the case of mass production. However, it is disadvantageous to do so when producing various kind of products or a small quantity of products because required space and production facilities are not effectively utilized and the operators on the line are sometimes idle. Therefore, the applicant of the present invention developed an invention described in Japanese Patent Applications previously filed at the Japanese Patent Office entitled "A versatile production system" that solves the abovementioned problems.
The inventions in "A versatile production system" provide only one production line for manufacturing various kind of products including a small quantity thereof. The Japanese Patent Application Numbers of the inventions are 4-290314 and 4-291655.
A parts supply system in the prior art comprises a unit assembling site and a kit arranging site. In the unit assembling site, various kinds of units are assembled with parts delivered from a warehouse. In the kit arranging site, various kinds of kits are arranged by collecting necessary units for making up a product at a product assembling site. In such a parts supply system in the prior art, labor is required for delivering units from the unit assembling site to the kit arranging site and delivering kits from the kit arranging site to the product assembling sites.
The parts supply system described above is disadvantageous, especially when only one kit is delivered in a container from the kit arranging site to the product assembling sites.
The kit arranging site is absolutely necessary, which is separate from the unit assembling site, so that delivery of the kits between the two sites is necessary, and if assembling robots are employed at the product assembling site, they cannot be used for unit assembling or for kit arranging.